I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFICTION. ALL RIGHT GO TO J.K. ROWLING

"Licorice," Professor McGonagall said, she thought that Professor Dumbledore's passwords were always confusing, but it was one of those quirks that endeared him to people.

The stone gargoyle moved to the side and the wall split down the middle. She walked confidently inside and raised her hand to knock on the door. Before she could make contact with the door, she heard a voice from inside, "Come in," and the door swung open. That, on the other hand, was one of those quirks that certainly did not endear him to anyone.

"Ah, Minerva, what can I do for you?" He asked as he put down his quill.

"Well Albus, I would quite like you to explain to me why I met a boy who has been dead for near 10 years today." She said with a slight edge to her voice, she wasn't particularly pleased with the entire situation.

Albus raised an eyebrow, "And who would this boy be?"

"Harry Potter." She stated.

Albus leaned back into his chair, "Ah, so he is magical, I wasn't sure if he would be or not, he did have incredibly active accidental magic but after that Halloween night his magical presence was incredibly diminished, he felt almost identical to a muggle. I'm surprised he could even produce accidental magic."

"You weren't sure? So why in Merlin's name was he sent to the Muggle world? I thought you were smarter than that Albus."

"I gave specific instructions to Petunia that if he shows any magic to inform us, evidently she chose not to, I will have to have words with her."

"Words? Albus you can't be serious, you should have a look at the boy, he looks as though he is eight not ten, why you ever thought Petunia Evans would ever treat a wizard or witch well, especially after what Lily told us, is beyond me. Also, I don't even know how you thought that boy was a squib, he has told me that he has already apparated."

That made the Headmaster freeze, if only for a moment, "I fear I have made a grave mistake, if he could produce the magical power to apparate…" he trailed off, thoughts probably going a thousand miles an hour in his head.

"Do you want to know what his letter said: The cupboard under the stairs. Merlin only knows how poorly that boy had been treated. Forget about his clear dietary neglect, I could tell by his body language and entire demeanour that he does not trust easily. It is quite frankly a miracle that he even trusted me in the slightest sense of the word, and I believe that is only as I treated him older than he is. I doubt that if I were to betray that sliver of trust, if only slightly, then he would never trust me again." She paused to let Dumbledore think over her words, "And don't even get me started on James Potter, I doubt his son will listen to him forget about trust him after what he has done."

Albus seemed to have aged over her rant, "This is not what I had wanted for young Harry, I will go and personally apologise to him for my part in his isolation from us, it is only right that I do so."

"Also, James Potter has requested an audience with you to deal with the Dursleys, Petunia's family, within the confines of the law. I had to stop him from taking violent vengeance against them earlier today."

"Very well, I can do that, is there anything else about Harry that I should know."

"Well, there is one thing, but I did not tell you," Dumbledore nodded, "I don't think that Toby's scar is unique. You see, Harry has one as well, but it is on his right palm, but it is much bigger as well as being red and inflamed."

"Oh, that is troubling to hear indeed, I will need to have a look at this."

"Do not let him know I told you Albus, I said I would not tell you and would rather keep what little trust he has in me, it is clear to me that not many adults have that privilege, and I don't want to isolate a student before they have even started."

"That shall not be a problem Minerva."

"Very well Headmaster, that is all, and I would quite like to sleep now so I will be going."

"I shall see you tomorrow Minerva."

With that she turned her back and left the room.

Harry woke up the next morning in an incredibly comfortable bed. He couldn't remember the last time he had had such a good sleep, he reached up and moved his hand to the right. That was odd, where was the shelf he put his glasses?

He opened his eyes and though he could not make anything out it was clear he was in a large room and not the cupboard he was used to. He looked over to the side of his bed to see his glasses resting on top of the bedside table.

He reached out and picked them up and put them on his face, after James had left the Living Room with Toby, Harry had just gone to bed, it had been a very long day and he was exceptionally tired, both physically and emotionally.

The curtains were still drawn, and no light was coming through them. Harry didn't own a watch and the room had no clocks in it, so he didn't know what time it was.

His stomach rumbled and he remembered what his father had said, "Nitty." He called out a quiet voice, it was probably still early morning, and he wouldn't want to disturb anyone else in the house.

A pop sounded from the bottom of his bed, and he sat up to look at the source of the sound. It was the oddest sight he had seen recently and that was saying something.

At the end of his bed stood a small creature that would only reach his halfway up his chest, and Harry was quite a small child. It had big bat-like ears, a nose that stuck out and was crooked as well as huge eyes that seemed to light up the room. It was dressed in a white and had the same crest on the top even if it was quite small Harry still recognised it. He had guessed it was the Potter family crest. "Young Master Harry called Nitty, what can Nitty do for Young Master Harry," it asked almost reverently.

"Um, hi Nitty, could you tell me what time it is and show me to the kitchen."

"Of course sir, it is currently 18 minutes to 6 in the morning sir. And why would Young Master Harry like to go to the kitchen?"

"Thank you, and I would like to go and make something to eat, is that okay?"

Nitty looked shocked, "Yes sir, nothing is wrong, but Young Master Harry need not cook, Nitty shall do it, what could Nitty get Young Master Harry?"

Harry was getting a bit uncomfortable from the level of devotion that the house elf seemed to be showing him. "Um, could I get an omelette please?"

"Of course Young Master Harry," before he could say anything else the same pop sounded, and the elf was gone.

About 5 minutes later the elf popped back, this time he was holding a plate with the biggest omelette Harry had ever laid eyes on. "Here you go Young Master Harry."

Nitty put the plate on the bedside table where his glasses previously were and then disappeared again. Harry sighed, "Nitty, can you come back please."

Nitty appeared and seemed to look quite nervous, "Is something not to your liking sir?"

"Of course not Nitty, I was just wanting to ask why you call me 'Young Master Harry'?"

"Well sir, you are a Potter and therefore my master, your name is Harry, and you are below the age of 17 and so young, is something wrong with the name sir?"

"Well, is it possible you could just call me Harry?"

"Of course, if sir wished it Nitty may call sir Harry."

"Then please call me Harry Nitty."

"Very well Harry, is there anything else Nitty can do for you sir?"

"Um… could you show me the dining room please, I would prefer to eat there and not in bed."

"Of course sir," she clicked her fingers and the omelette and plate disappeared, "Follow me sir."

She started walking towards the door and Harry followed. She led him down the corridor, took 2 lefts and a right. He walked into the biggest dining room he had ever seen; the table could easily fit over 20 people at it, but it only had 2 seats at it. Infront of one of the seats was the plate of food. "Thank you Nitty."

"No problem sir!" The elf chirped cheerily before popping and disappearing again.

Harry ate his omelette in peace until he heard footsteps coming from the corridor. He looked up and saw James Potter standing in the doorway.

"Morning Harry, what are you doing so early?" James did a double take before asking and Harry could tell he was tired.

"I was hungry and so asked Nitty to show me the kitchens, she seemed to take offence at the idea of me cooking my own breakfast."

"That would be house elves for you."

"Be what sorry?" Harry asked

"House elves," James repeated, "they act as servants to wizarding families and take that job very seriously, was she calling you 'Young Master Harry' as well?"

"Yes, she was but I asked her not to and just to call me Harry."

"And how did she take that?"

"She didn't seem to like it but did it anyway since I asked."

"That seems like her, anyway, how did you sleep?"

"Wonderfully thank you, can I ask why you are up so early." Harry was curious, not many people were up at 6 in the morning.

"I am an Auror Harry, I believe that would be a policeman in the Muggle world, since I am taking Toby, and now yourself, to Diagon Alley today I need to be in early to complete some paperwork."

"Okay, what time are we going to go to Diagon Alley?" Harry wanted to know how much time he could spend reading in the library before he had to go.

"Around 11 o'clock."

"Ok, I don't have watch and was planning to go to the library. I haven't seen any clocks anywhere so is there a way I can tell the time?"

"Do you have your wand on you?" James asked.

"Um no, can Nitty get it quickly, she seemed to like apparating earlier."

"Well, legally no since house elves are not allowed to even touch wands but if we don't tell anyone no one will know," James winked at Harry and then spoke louder, "Nitty, grab Harry's wand and bring it here."

Nitty appeared and placed his wand. "Tha…" Harry couldn't finish the word before Nitty had already disappeared. Harry thought that James had been a bit rude, another one of the few good things that Harry had been taught by the Dursleys were that manners were important, and Harry thought he was always polite.

"Now, pick up your wand, point it in the air and say, 'Tempus.'"

Harry did so and faint white lines appeared in the air. Woah, that seemed much easier than doing it without a wand, he didn't feel nearly as tired as he expected to.

"Close Harry, think about wanting to know the time, you really want to know the time okay. Now try again."

Harry knew all about focusing on a desire, it was what made his wandless magic possible after all. "Tempus." Harry intoned and this time white lines appeared in the air that read out, '06:03.'

"Woah, that's so cool." Harry said as the lines disappeared.

"Yes, yes it is. Was that your first spell?" James asked with a smile.

"Um, yes." Harry didn't want to tell him about the wandless magic that would be his own secret and he didn't trust his father enough to let him in on it.

"Well done son," He reached out and patted him on the back. Harry shrunk back when his arm was raised. James' eyes went wide, "Sorry Harry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." James spoke in a softer voice this time.

"It's okay father," Harry said, the last thing he wanted was to appear weak in front of his father.

"I will say though, very impressive to get your first spell on your second try."

"Thank you," Harry said quietly.

"Now, I do need to go to work now, ask Nitty to show you the library, I'm sure a future Ravenclaw like yourself will love it." He stood up and made to leave the room, before he left Harry's eyesight he turned around, "Just don't try any spells," and with that he left.

Harry spent had spent the last 4 hours in the library, he had spent most of the time looking at the titles and contents of the books trying to find something interesting but also within his capacity. He had found a book on basic magical theory and had been reading it for 90 minutes now, it had been eye-opening, who knew that one of the most important factors when casting a spell is intent. Another one that was very important was visualisation, picturing the effect that you wanted clearly in your head. Apparently transfiguration was dependant on visualisation and his wand apparently liked transfiguration so Harry supposed he better get used to imagining magic in his head.

He had also found out that people's magical strength grows as they age, when children turn 13 their magic becomes a lot stronger, it was one of the reasons that 13 was so important in Arithmacy; whatever that is, the book didn't give a definition. You get another big boost at the age of 17 when you reach what is known as Magical Maturity and that is when your magic stops growing stronger naturally. Of course, some people were naturally had more magical reserves that others but there were ways to increase your magical strength, the simplest of which was just to use magic more, the more you use your magic the stronger your magic gets. It seemed to be like a physical muscle in that sense.

It also went into some of the laws of magic like Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration and the Principle of Artifianimate Quasi-Dominance. Whatever that is, that entire chapter flew over Harry's head but he recognised the word conjuration and he had saw Professor McGonagall make a chair out of thin air so that was his best lead on someone to ask.

It was now half past 10 and Harry put the book back and left the library and headed down the stairs towards the Living Room. He had to walk past the Dining Room on his way and he saw Toby sitting there eating a full English breakfast, it looked delicious. He raised his hand in a half awkward wave and Toby just nodded back at him before turning back to his breakfast.

'Rude,' Harry thought but kept going towards the Living Room. He sat down in one of the couches and mulled over his thoughts. He was glad that this new family wasn't outright rejecting him, but he still wasn't comfortable around them. Harry doubts that he will ever be able to forget that James sent him away to live with the Dursleys, but he can understand the misguidedness that James thought he was doing it for Harry's sole benefit.

Toby, on the other hand, was a whole different ball game, his first impression on him was not a good one and he doubted it would change. He seemed very stuck up and haughty but according to James he is a world known celebrity, so Harry didn't know why he expected anything different, it was clear to him that he was spoiled absolutely rotten and didn't seem interested in getting to know Harry at all.

That suited Harry fine, he just hoped that Toby's friends weren't as dismissive.

Harry heard familiar footsteps coming down the hallway and saw that his father had just entered the living room. "Hi Harry, did you enjoy the library?"

"Yeah, it was huge, I could have spent all day in there."

"Glad to hear it, do you know where Toby is?"

"He is eating in the Dining Room."

"Okay, now, I'm guessing you haven't travelled by floo powder before, have you?"

"What is floo powder?" Harry thought that that would imply no, as well as telling him a bit about what floo powder was.

"Well, did you see yesterday when Toby stepped out the fire it was green," Harry nodded, "Well that was because of floo powder."

"Okay." Harry said, drawing out the word as he was a little confused.

"Eh, you will be fine, just stand in the fireplace and clearly say 'Diagon Alley' and the once you feel solid ground below you walk forward. Simple really."

"Hmm, sure, when are we leaving." Harry wanted to know so he didn't get too lost in his thoughts, he was used to being bored so he was perfectly comfortable alone with his thought for a while.

"Whenever Toby gets here, now, a few things. As I have told you, Toby is quite famous and so we will be getting stopped, please do not answer any of the questions."

That seemed fair to Harry, "I can do that." He didn't exactly want the media attention anyways.

"Okay, and second, we will be meeting some other families there. I have already explained our situation to them so they should know that you are new to our world. We will be meeting up with the Weasleys, they have 7 children, but you will only meet 5, Ron the second youngest is going to be in your year. We are also meeting up with the Bones' and Abbotts. I will point them out when we meet them. Susan and Hannah will also be in your year. It will be good to make some friends."

Harry thought that sounded like a lot of people but just nodded. He didn't want to be an issue and cause problems for his father.

5 minutes later Toby walked in, "Ready Toby?" James asked, Toby nodded, "Right, you can go first then and make sure you are ready to catch Harry."

That made Harry whip his head round, why was he going to need to be catched. "Ah don't worry about it Harry, I'm sure you will get it." Toby said with a slight smirk on his face.

Toby grabbed a handful of what looked like gunpowder and walked into the fireplace, "Diagon Alley." Toby said and the green flames enveloped him and the next second they died down and he was gone.

"You see, just like that," James tried to reassure Harry.

Harry was not unsure about this, but he wanted to stay in this world and if he had to get used to odd things like then that is perfectly fine.

He reached out and grabbed a handful of the gunpowder that Toby had, stepped into the fireplace, he could feel the warmth of the flames licking at the bottom of his legs, "Diagon Alley." He said as clearly as he could.

Suddenly all he his vision was a bright neon green colour and he felt like he was flying but also falling. The bright green was too much so he closed his eyes. It was an incredibly odd sensation but easily better than apparition.

He felt ground beneath him, and he took a step forward only to walk into something. He fell backwards and landed on the floor. That had really hurt his nose and he opened his eyes to see a familiar roof. He scrambled to his feet and looked around to see that he was in The Leaky Cauldron.

He heard a noise over from his left and looked over to see Toby and 3 other red-headed boys laughing at him from the other side of the room. How Toby was supposed to catch him from over there no one knew, 'I supposed that was the point,' Harry thought to himself. The boys were much more ginger than Toby was and 2 of them looked to be twins. This must be the Weasleys then.

The flames turned green again and James walked out as if he had just walked through his front door. James looked and saw the boys laughing and smiled, "What did you do Harry?"

"I was facing the wrong way and walked into the wall." Harry murmured.

James still heard him, "Ah don't worry, happens to the best of us."

The two twins came up to him, "Nice to meet…"

"…you." The other twin finished. That was going to be annoying if they kept it up.

"I'm Fred," the one of the right said as he offered his hand. Harry shook his hand.

"And I'm George," the one on the left said.

Harry also shook his hand, "I'm Harry."

"Here's a tip, next time open your eyes…"

"…before walking out of the fireplace…"

"…took us a while to figure that one out." They offered.

"Thanks, I will keep that in mind." They had laughed at him, but he had laughed at people doing silly things, they had then gone and given him some advice though, so he knew their laughter wasn't malicious. They seemed easy-going and relaxed, so Harry thought they were okay.

"Oh, and don't mind Ron…"

"… he can be a bit of a prat sometimes."

It appears both Toby and Ron seemed to enjoy Harry making a fool of himself. He will just have to ignore them, Fred and George seemed nice so he would stick with them.

They waited another 5 minutes, in which Harry was introduced to the entire Weasley family. Molly and Arthur seemed a bit overly affectionate, but he didn't like Ron and Percy, and Harry didn't think they liked him either. Ginny, seemed starstruck to even be in the presence of his brother, the twins told him that she gets like this whenever they are in the same room.

Eventually a girl with red hair showed up, what was up with witches and wizards with red hair? She showed up alongside a blonde girl who looked quite nervous.

They were shortly followed by a woman who had the same colour of blonde hair that the younger girl had.

"Ah, Sarah, lovely to see you again, I take it Marcus couldn't make it?"

"No," She spoke kindly, "I'm afraid something came up with his work, same with Amelia but I'm sure you guessed that."

"Well, being the Head of the DMLE isn't an easy job, I'm glad I'm just Head Auror."

"True true," Sarah replied as she looked over the room, when she looked at Harry she stopped.

"Ah, this is my son I told you about Harry, Harry meet Sarah Abbott, Hannah's mother. Sarah meet Harry Potter, my eldest son." James introduced.

"Nice to meet you Mrs Abbott." Harry said politely, she looked like one of his old primary school teachers and that was ringing alarm bells in Harry's head.

"Nice to meet you to Harry, but please, call me Sarah."

"Okay Sarah." This was when the red-haired girl came up confidently.

"Nice to meet you Harry, I'm Susan." She again reached out with her hand.

"Um, you as well Susan, you already seem to know my name." She laughed at his awkwardness. He shook her hand; how many hands was he going to shake today?

"And this is my friend Hannah," She introduced her friend.

"Nice to meet you," her friend, Hannah, whispered. It was very quiet, and Harry almost couldn't hear it.

"You as well Hannah." Harry said back.

"Perfect, now introductions are done, lets go shopping, I say wands first, they are the most exciting." James suggested.

Fred and George spoke up, "We have our wands…"

"…but we need new robes…"

"…so mum…"

"… and dad…"

"…we will be there." This finishing each other's sentences was already hurting Harry's head, he was very impressed how they coordinated it but that didn't make him like it more.

"Um, I also have my wand, but I don't have any robes, can I go and get some?" Harry asked looking at James as well as the twins.

"Of course," James put his hand into the inside of his robes and took out a small brown pouch, "Here, this is some money, also buy a trunk, they are very useful."

"Thank you."

The twins who had been looking at each other as if telepathically communicating looked at Harry in sync, "Come on then Harry, let's go."

Harry ended up getting some Hogwarts robes as well as 2 pairs of regular robes that he was now wearing, he felt very out of place wearing Dudley's clothes, that was all he had. He had also bought a trunk that had 2 separate sections that he could switch between. One was for clothes and items and the other was for books, it was basically a bunch of sections that books could fit in. It was really cool, and the switch was a literal switch on the side of the trunk.

The twins needed their books for their third year, so they were back in Flourish and Blotts. Harry had gone to the back to see if there were any more books on magical theory. He had only found a few and from a quick skim decided that the one at Potter Manor was much better.

He had found some books on the more social parts of the wizarding world. One of them was titled, "A Muggleborns Guide to The Wizarding World." He had picked it up and was planning on buying it and a few others like it. For example, one was about the basics of the Wizengamot, and another explained the Ministry of Magic.

He turned a corner and walked into someone and the books he was holding fell to the floor. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Harry said he reached down to pick up the books.

The boy reached down and picked up one of the books, "Muggleborn eh?" He asked. He had dark blonde hair and was quite small but muscly, he reminded Harry of some of the boys in his school who played rugby.

"Um, not quite," Harry said back as he took his book back. "Muggle raised."

"Huh, well, at least you are trying to learn about our society. I'm Theo Nott, nice to meet you." He started to extend his hand forward but stopped, "I would shake your hand, but they seem to be a bit full."

"Thanks, nice to meet you too, I'm Harry Potter." At the utterance of his last name Theo froze.

"Not related to Toby Potter, are you?"

"Yeah, he's my twin brother."

"Huh, well if your father is anything like mine claims him to be I wouldn't let him see you with those books."

"What why?" Harry was confused, his father seemed fine so far and they were only books.

"Some of our traditions that will be spoken about in that book are seen by some as 'dark', load of rubbish if you ask me but your father does not like anything dark."

"Huh, okay well thanks."

"No problem," Theo said before turning away from him.

"Wait," Harry called out, "Do you know any spell books for spells I should know before I go to first year?"

Theo turned back around, "Yeah, follow me." He said before leading him off to another part of the store.

"Here you go, try some of these," Theo said as he placed some books on top of the ones Harry already had. "Actually, do you want some help with them?"

"Please," Harry said back lowering himself, so it was easier to grab the books. Theo took some and Harry's arms stopped shaking, "Thank you."

"No problem, let's go pay."

They met Fred and George at the checkout and they both gave Theo a funny look. Theo just ignored them and put the books down with the rest of Harry's.

"Thank you."

"No problem Harry, see you at school," and then he was gone back into the maze of bookshelves. Fred and George looked at each other before shrugging.

Harry paid for his books and waited for the twins to do the same. "Well, we need some more broom polish, want to come with us Harry? We already have everything else at home, we can go for some ice-cream after?" Harry couldn't tell which twin was which, so he just nodded.

"Perfect, lets go." The other twin said. That must have been the first time Harry heard them speak normally.

They led Harry to Quality Quidditch Supplies as they explained what Quidditch was, it sounded quite fun, and Harry would be sure to try it some time. There was a lot of people crowding around the window and one of the twins explained it was because of a new broom.

They entered the shop and all the chatter from outside stopped, no one else was in the shop so it was awfully quiet. "Have a look around, we will be 5 minutes." He was told by one of the twins.

Harry did so, he was confused however when he could hear talking from one corner of the shop, there was no one in the shop so where were the voices coming from?

He couldn't make out what they were saying but it was clearly voices. Harry shrugged it off and went back over to the twins when they called him. "Ice cream now?"

"Yes please."

They exited the shop and turned right, Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor was 2 buildings down just past the pet store.

They walked past the pet store and Harry could swear he could hear those same voices again, but it must just be the crowd admiring the new broomstick.

Both Fred and George got 'The Golden Snitch Special' which was bright gold and when they weren't looking it would start to float but when they looked back at it, it would split up into lots of small parts and fly around before returning to the cone. Harry thought it was funny, so he got one as well. It was much better than he would have thought, he had only ever had ice cream once before when one of his teachers had brought it in for the whole class on the last day before summer and that had tasted like dirt compared to this.

Harry was asking the twins questions about Hogwarts but how much of the information they gave him was accurate he didn't know. Harry doubted that you actually had to fight a troll to get sorted into your house

They were eventually joined by the rest of the group and Toby in particular was showing his new wand to everyone who would listen. Dragon heartstring, Rowan, 12 inches, unyielding. Apparently very focused on defensive magic and shielding.

After Toby was finished bragging to the twins and himself, they all ordered their own flavour of ice-cream Harry had never even heard of.

Fred and George were back to finishing each other's sentences which was still off putting. He was just glad they had stopped when it was just the three of them.

"Say Harry…"

"…who was that boy…"

"…helping you carry…"

"…your books?"

"Um, he said his name was Theo Nott," instantly his father froze up, everyone else seemed stared at him, especially Toby. Harry suddenly got incredibly uncomfortable as he was now the centre of attention, "He was nice," he said very quietly but the rest of the group was quiet enough for everyone to hear him.

"What did he tell you?" James asked as if Harry had personally shot his pet dog, do wizards have dogs? 'Now is not the time to ask that,' Harry thought to himself.

"Um," Harry's hands were fidgeting, "Nothing really, he just showed me some spell books that have spells that I should know before going to Hogwarts, I don't want to be behind anyone."

"Show me the books." James commanded.

Harry did so, and James looked through, scanning every single page of each of the 3 books before he handed them back to Harry, "Huh, no dark magic, that's surprising from a family like his." He muttered before looking Harry right in the eyes, "Harry, I do not want you talking to Theo Nott, his father was one of You-Know-Who's supporters and he no doubt would also have been."

Of course James was now trying to control his life, saying who he could and couldn't be friends with and checking the things he bought. Who cares what his father had done, his father had sent him away to the Dursleys but he certainly wouldn't do that if he had children.

It felt reminiscent of the Dursleys but was a bit more disguised, he couldn't do what he wanted, he had to conform to what James wanted. "Fine," he stated, very much not happy with the entire situation, Theo had seemed nice, and he had helped him without needing to be asked.

"Good, you don't want to be associating with the wrong sort." James seemed satisfied with his answer and as if everyone let out a big sigh of relief conversation started back again.

Harry didn't pay attention much, the only interesting thing was when Arthur Weasley asked what the function of a rubber duck was. The rest of the time Harry was in too much of a bad mood to enjoy the conversation. He tried to hide it as to not be a nuisance, but both of the Weasley twins seemed to have picked up on it and sent him sympathetic smiles.

They left shortly after and headed back to Potter Manor where Harry was stopped by James, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I can see you want to practice, the trace isn't applied to you until you get to Hogwarts, and even then, I know ways to get around it," he said with a wink. "Just don't break anything, but if you do tell me." He added.

With that Harry went to his room to practice.

Harry was sitting on his bed, having spent the last 20 minutes experimenting with the Lumos charm. He had managed to make it brighter and dimmer, but he couldn't seem to make the light a different colour.

A familiar pop sounded, "Master James is requesting Harry to come and see him in the Living Room."

"Okay, thank you Nitty, I will be there shortly." With that Nitty popped back to who knows where.

Harry left his room after putting his books away in his new trunk, it was very fancy, and Harry was sure he would get a lot of use out of it. He walked into the room and next to James was a much older gentleman. He wore horrendously bright red robes and had a beard that looked like it was almost taller than Harry. He had half-moon glassed that rested on a very long nose. His eyes behind the glasses seemed to light up and looked as though they were sparkling behind the glasses when Harry walked in the room.

He stood up and strode over to Harry, he was tall and so it only took him 3 steps to make it to Harry, "Harry my boy, so lovely to see you again," He said as Harry had now shaken at least his 10th hand today. "Now, the first thing that I want to say is that I am incredibly sorry that I had a role in placing you with the Dursleys, I have heard that they do not treat you well and I hope that you can forgive me for that." Harry looked up and into his eyes that he was now certain were sparkling. How did he do that?

"Um, well thank you for apologising but who are you?"

"Ah, you must forgive an old man Harry, I often forget that not everyone knows me, I am Professor Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts."

Harry looked at the man, he looked old, and Harry could easily picture him being the headmaster, but being one of the strongest wizards of the age was a bit far-fetched surely.

"Oh, nice to meet you sir." Harry said, he didn't know what else to say.

"Now Harry, may I ask what that mark on your hand is?"

Professor McGonagall must have told him, of course she would, why did no one do what he asked? 'I doubt it's that important anyway,' he was thinking, "I don't know sir," he said as he held his right palm up to him, "I have had it for as long as I can remember. Did Professor McGonagall tell you?"

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, "No, she didn't, I felt it when we shook hands." He said before refocusing on the scar in his hand, "Hmm, fascinating, I have never quite seen a scar like this before, it is very similar to Toby's yet isn't healed. How curious indeed. Can you tell me anything about it?"

"Well, I think it has grown."

That made Dumbledore stand up slightly taller, a look of worry passed over his face before it turned back into the gentle, kind look he seemed to wear as default. "My boy, please enlighten me to what you mean."

"Well, I once apparated and it started bleeding then, and then another time I used magic to tidy up the kitchen to avoid getting caught by Uncle Vernon, after that I was really tired and my scar was bleeding, I thought it looked a little bigger after the second time."

The sparkle was gone from Dumbledores eyes, "Harry, I need you to listen to me very carefully, I must beg of you, do not magically exhaust yourself anymore, apparition and that much wandless magic at such a young age will have exhausted you magically and seemed to have expanded the scar. It is now clear to me, now that you are a bit bigger, that the dark aura you have is centralised in that scar and it feels stronger than it did, I will plead with you to not expand it further."

Harry was incredibly confused, "What dark aura?"

Dumbledore looked back at James, "You didn't tell him?"

'Tell me what?' Harry was wondering but he kept quiet just for now.

"Well, no, not yet, I was going to," James trailed off, suddenly seeming very small in the presence of the Headmaster.

"Tell me what?" Harry vocalised his thoughts.

"Why you were sent away to the Dursleys, there were three main reasons."

"THREE? I was told one!" Harry was shocked, of course James was keeping secrets from him, and he clearly had some sort of dark presence about him for the Professor to comment about it.

The sparkle in his eyes were back, "Ah, I'm sure I know which one that is, but there was another two. That night many years ago, it was clear to me that you had a dark aura surrounding you. Now that you are bigger than you were I can now easily detect that it is focused around that scar on your right hand. Anyways, at the time you felt enveloped by it and we didn't know what it was, for all we knew it could have been the start of a possession by Lord Voldemort," James shuddered next to him, "Both your father and I thought it would be safer for you to go and live with your muggle relatives. Due to your mothers death and the sacrificial nature of it, it allowed for blood wards to be constructed around that house so in case of the worst Toby would have a safe haven."

Harry was furious, here he thought his father sent him away for his own good, but noooo, it was for Toby. Of course it was for Toby, the famous Boy-Who-Lived. His entire life was just for a worst-case scenario of someone else. His entire 10 years of neglect were for the off chance that his brother was attacked.

"You mean to tell me, that the reason I was with the Dursleys for 10 years, was to protect Toby? It's not even as if he needed a safe haven, he has been here in this mansion for the past 10 years whilst I have been in a cupboard! And I was dark therefore could attack Toby, well just have a house elf watch over me, they can hear me from anywhere so they could probably see me as well!" Harry's rage currently knew no bounds and he could feel his magic swelling inside of him.

"Well, we just didn't want to take the chance," James said, clearly trying to calm his son down as well as ease his own guilt. Harry didn't know why he expected anything else from his father that had sent him away and then hardly checked up on him.

"Well, you should have taken that chance, as clearly I am not possessed or a danger to Toby." With that he stood up and left the room.

"Harry," a calmer, more serene voice, "I just want you to know, you have my humblest apologies and if there is anything I can do to make up for it can you please tell me."

"Yeah, whatever," Harry said before he left the Living Room before heading to his bedroom.

On his way there he bumped into Toby, who was clearly trying to eavesdrop on the conversation, "At least you finally got something decent to wear, those other clothes were atrocious, you didn't actually like them did you?" He asked in an unpleasant tone that seemed to be his regular.

"No, I didn't but now is not the time," Harry said as moved to the side to move round him.

"What, found out why you weren't wanted?" Toby asked and Harry snapped, his magic exploded outwards, and Toby was sent flying back all the way down the corridor, he was going so fast that by the time he had passed the Living Room entrance he was still in the air. Harry felt a familiar exhaustion fall over him but this time it seemed worse and soon after he collapsed and the last thing, he saw was bright red exiting the living room and heading towards him.

Authors Note

So, Harry has found out the full list of reasons why he was left, and is clearly not happy about it. What is going on with the Horcrux and how will it affect him going forward.

This was by far my longest chapter as well as being difficult to write so any reviews are appreciated.

Yes, Toby is a massive arse and he will remain so for a while so get used to Harry and Toby conflicts.

Also thank you all for getting the story to 1,000 views already, it really makes me feel I am doing something worthwhile and I'm glad you are enjoying it!